By Benjamin Akoto
Sunyani, March 10, GNA – The Bono Regional branch of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has placed second in a cooking competition organised for five groups in the Sunyani Municipality by the Department of Gender, Bono Region.
The competition formed part of activities organised by the Department to commemorate this year’s International Women’s Day, which fell on March 8 on the theme, ‘DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality”.
The Ghana Private Road and Transport Union (GPRTU) that prepared ‘Fufu’ (pounded boiled plantain and cassava) with nkate-nkonto’ (groundnut and ‘nkontomire’- cocoyam leaves) soup placed first with 25 points.
The GJA represented by Daniel Dzirasah, a reporter with Ghanaian Times, Sunyani, and Claud Kumi Ebisa of Onua TV had 24 points after dazzling the judges with hot banku and okro stew while the third position went to the Ghana Immigration Service with eight points after preparing plain rice and corned beef stew.
The Seventh Day Adventist Hospital with their ‘mpoto-mpoto,’ a local dish made from ripe plantain and the Ghana Education Service with jollof rice came fourth and fifth with seven and six points, respectively.
Mrs Joycelyn Adii, the regional Director of the Gender Department earlier in an address indicated technology had touched every aspect of human life, saying in terms of trade most women, especially market women were capitalising on its availability to order items even at the comfort of their homes using phones.
She noted the benefits of technology were enormous, but the issues of unpaid care work could hinder many women’s access and adaptation to technology, saying unpaid care work was time-consuming.
Mrs Adii explained women who bore most unpaid care work responsibilities might be limited to engaging with technology, saying this could prevent them from attending technology training programmes by either learning new skills or using technology for personal or professional gains.
She indicated the programme was intended to solicit the support of men in addressing the issues of unpaid care work, which were many and varied in most homes and were disproportionately affecting more women and girls.
Nana Akosua Ankumah, the Sunyani ‘Sumpahemaa’ called for good home training for both the boy and the girl-child to ensure that they were productive in the house and could contribute effectively irrespective of gender.
For their prizes, the first and second organisations were given hampers and other goodies while the third to the fifth groups also received some consolation prizes.
GNA